Starting Count: 66279
Ending Count: 69214
Net Gain: +2935

Starting line:
“Because there needs to be,” Teraisa said simply. “Remember, this didn’t start this spring. This is simply the continuation of what happened twenty four years ago. I don’t ask the Spirits why these things happen – that’s not my concern. If you want to know, you ask them. You’ve got a line to them now, if you truly are the StarChild.”

Ending line:
And then, a single bright light flares, a clear note of hope amid the darkness.

Darling:
These are no ordinary figures, though. Magic drips from them in various garish shades, liquid steel and solid blood congealing into pools of fear on the ground that comes into being just to support their dance. These are harsh figures, edged in a dark future, all knives and bitter truths. They swirl around her, poking and slashing, seeking a truth within her, a truth she can’t avoid but doesn’t want to bring to life.

Around her, in the edges of the grey, she hears gunfire and explosions punctuating the musical notes that jangle and grate against one another. The grey becomes smoke, thick and heavy, clinging to a ground dead and covered in icy, dirty frost. Her fingers continue to play, even as her heart sinks in dread. Can this truly be how it ends?

**

Very close to 70k. I’m trying to keep a normal schedule, so I’m shutting down at my normal bedtime and going to take a bath. But I start again tomorrow morning!

Good night, everyone, and dream well!